Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California Are Exhausting Aquifers

Re:Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California ... by SOLAR_FIELDS on Saturday July 24, 2021 @08:49AM (#27940472)

We have a very similar problem in Texas. A vast, vast majority of water use (something like 85-90%) in Central Texas is diverted to grow rice, an obviously completely unsustainable crop in Texas given the climate. The farmers, as in California, believe that since they were there first they are entitled to the water and fight tooth and nail any time that someone threatens their usage.

Perhaps some agreement that made the water rights expire on death of the farmer would be a compromise that no one would be happy with but possibly stomachable for everyone. Farmers would not get to ensure the livelihood of their children and the rest of Texas would have to wait 40 years, but it could be done without disrupting the current status quo too much.

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Re:Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California ... by bradleyjg on Saturday July 24, 2021 @09:08AM (#27940613)

I’m not an expert on the subject but I don’t think Texas is in as much of a bind as California.

There are two main water regulation systems in the US: riparian (eastern) and prior appropriation (western).

There’s are lots of variations and details but at a very high level the riparian system does not create vested property rights in water and so can be freely tweaked by the government. Prior appropriation, on the other hand, does create vested property rights which are then protected by the 14th amendment. This makes reform much more difficult.

Texas, being Texas, has an oddball hybrid system. My understanding is that it uses prior appropriation as an allocation method but riparian (state ownership) as a theoretical underpinning. Thus the Texas government should be able to modify the system without running afoul of the 14th amendment.

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Re:Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California ... by thechao on Saturday July 24, 2021 @10:45AM (#27941379)

A lot of us in the hills around Austin are putting in rooftop rainwater systems — we expect at-the-well metering in the next 10 years. Most of us are on grades, and a 1500’ footprint lets you put in 20k gallon system under the house — that amortizes to about 4 months of water, depending the family size. Shipping water from LBJ is a cheap stopgap.

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Re:Without Enough Water to Go Around, Farmers in California ... by selimthegrim on Saturday July 24, 2021 @01:08PM (#27942603)

My impression was that rice cultivation in TX was started by the Japanese around Beaumont. Is the situation with water or irrigation any better over there? Edit: TIL about William Goyens http://mms.winnsboroisd.org/ourpages/auto/2015/1/16/60439582...

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